Rain
by agentbanner
Summary: Tony and the things that happen in the rain.
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't raining that morning. Nor that after noon, but when evening came it began to poor. Tony was already in a bad mood that day. Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawk Eye went on a mission without him. They were supposed to meet him for drinks an hour ago. Instead, none of them answered their phones or even bothered to tell him they couldn't come. Tony couldn't call Happy to pick him up, it was his daughters birthday. Pepper was out of the question too. They had broken up last week. Pepper had said something about him being in love with someone else and that she was in love with someone else. He suspected Captain America, the two spent a lot of time together. He frowned. Captain America seemed to capture the attention of the people whom he cared about. First his father and now Pepper. He rolled his eyes. Staring out of the bar window he gulped the rest of his beer down. Leaving the money on the table he walked out into the rain. His shirt was instantly soaking wet. Walking briskly down the street he made his way home. He could call a cab or heck, he could call the Iron Man suit. None of that sounded very appealing at the moment. In fact the rain seemed to his mood perfectly. Only the occasional other person was on the street. By the time he was getting closer to the tower the streets were filled with people. Umbrellas were everywhere. Unfortunately for him, people seemed to sense his bad mood and moved away from him.

"Hey! Hey Tony!" He heard a voice call. He frowned. Turning around he saw Captain America running through the crowd towards him, outfit, shield, and all. A smile lit up his face. His outfit was soaked, even more so than Tony's. Tony turned back and kept walking. The man had abandoned him for drinks. No doubt the others were already inside the tower, cleaning up. "Tony come on, wait." He could hear Captain America getting closer to him. He could also hear the people around him, whispering about Captain America.

"You abandoned me Cap." He kept walking. To his surprise Captains calls had stopped. The rain had also stopped. Looking up, the silver inside of Captain's shield and his gloved hand were there, stopping the rain.

"You weren't at the bar when I got there. Clint and Nat had blood covering their outfits so they had to go change. I went straight to the bar though. Sorry I didn't have time to change. Or call, no phone." He had taken his mask off so Tony could see his face. People had formed a small circle around them. Several were taking pictures. Tony crossed his arms and turned to face away from Steve. From the corner of Tony's eye he saw Captain smile gently. Captain leaned in under the shield with Tony. "You really should call me Steve outside of work."


	2. Chapter 2

He knew this day was coming. It had been set on the calendar for months now. He didn't put it there though. Pepper put it there when she and Rhodey announced they were getting married. Sure it had hurt at first, but they were his best friends. If anyone deserved happiness then they did; they put up with him after all. Tony muttered darkly at the bowtie he was attempting to tie. Why didn't he have an already tied one? He was a damn billionaire.

"Sir," Jarvis began. "I contacted help to tie your bowtie." Tony, whom almost had the tie tied, moved his hand in surprise effectively untying the bow tie. When had Jarvis found a way to pity him? "They are in the elevator now."

"Jarvis I don't need help. I'll just wear a normal tie. Send them away." Tony yelled. He walked into his closet and began running his fingers over the ties.

"Tony?" Steve's voice called. Tony didn't answer, thinking maybe he would leave.

"He's in his closet, Mr. Rogers." Jarvis instructed. Damn AI. Jarvis would need some reprogramming punishment soon. No more surprise visitors. No more unwanted help.

"Tony, come out of the closet." Steve called, mildly amused. Tony cussed. It was him who taught him all of the new generations language and sayings. "Hey! I heard that." Steve scolded. Tony glanced at Steve from between the hanging ties. Steve had casually sat on his bed. Leaning back on his hands Tony could see each muscle defined underneath the taught white button up. "Hurry up. Your Rohdey's man of honor and you can't be late. Put that tie down. Rhodey wants you to wear a bowtie so wear the bowtie." Tony threw the tie to the floor angrily. Marching out of the closet, while Steve smirked, he handed Steve the black untied bow tie.

"Good boy." Steve breathed. Steve stood to tie the tie. Tony suddenly was aware of how close they were. If he leaned just a tad bit forward he and Steve's noses' would be touching. His breath stopped for the split second that Steve placed the tie around Tony's neck. Steve's large, slightly calloused, hands started to tie the bow tie. The first time Steve's fingers had brushed up against Tony's neck he nearly jumped. After that he expected it. He didn't deny that it felt nice.

"There. All tied. Now, we better get going." Steve's breath tickled Tony's face before the soldier walked away. Tony's eyes betrayed him as they glanced down at Steve's butt. He stifled a groan. What was happening to him? Why did Steve have this effect on him? When had Captain become Steve? "Hurry up Tony." Tony did as told, for once, and grabbed his suit jacket. The normally large elevator seemed small and constricting now. Neither made conversation until Tony started to curse at their bad luck. It was raining. Poor Pepper. He hadn't asked but hopefully this was an indoors wedding.

"What's the cussing for?" Steve asked as they walked towards the garage. "Can I have a ride? I don't want my suit to be wet from my motorcycle."

"It's raining. Pepper's wedding." Was all the explanation he gave. Tony opened the hidden garage door. Rain started to blow inside. "Cap," he couldn't use his name, not after the thoughts he had been having. "We're taking this car. Hey, what are you doing? Dummy stop that! Come back inside!" Tony panicked at the sight of Dummy rolling out into the rain. Idiot machine. Steve reacted to Tony's distress. Both men ran out into the rain to catch the runaway. Steve passed Tony, as expected from the super soldier, and held onto Dummy so he couldn't move.

"What should I do with him?" Steve's words went unheard by the crouching billionaire. Tony held onto Dummy's arm. Tony started to scold Dummy for his actions. Dummy's arm moped down before he rolled back towards the garage. Tony's eyes never left the machine. Steve chuckled. "You're a worried parent." He mumbled. Tony looked at Steve, not completely hearing what he said.

"What?" He mumbled. His eyes glanced back at the garage where Dummy had disappeared.

"You're a worried parent." Steve's eyes twinkled with amusement. Tony's eyes briefly looked down to the other mans drenched white shirt, completely see through now. Unconsciously he bit his lip. "Its cute." That caught Tony off guard. Had Captain America just call him cute? "We need to get dry or change. And quick." Steve's hand wrapped itself around Tony's before pulling him through the rain towards the garage.

"Cap," he mumbled. His mind was screaming to say something about the handholding or to let go, but his hand wouldn't do it. He didn't want to. Steve huffed. Turning towards Tony they stopped a few feet away from the garage.

"You're supposed to call me Steve outside of work." He growled. That was a growl wasn't it? Tony's mind was racing. Before he knew what he was doing he had leaned up on his tiptoes, pecking Steve's mouth with his own. Steve didn't seem surprised at all.

"Finally, I've been waiting for you to get with the program. Looks like I'll have to tie your bowtie again."


	3. Chapter 3

"I can't just come out Pepper. No matter how much I would love to tell the world that I'm in love with Steve and we're together I just can't." Tony paced back in forth in front of Pepper. His hands waved around in the air as he spoke. Pepper rolled her eyes. This wasn't like Tony, not at all.

"Tony stop pacing. You're making me dizzy. Come sit down with me." Tony landed next to her on the couch with a large huff. "What's the matter? This isn't like you. You always do what you want, when you want…"

"It's Steve."

"No! What did he do? No wait. What did you do?" Tony stared around Pepper's home. He had only been here once before. Rhodey and Pepper invited him over for dinner the night they got back from their honeymoon. It was a nice home.

"No one knows that Steve is Captain America or vise versa. I know us being together publically won't change that but his life won't be the same. It will be like having Captain America's attention from the press all the time. Everywhere we go we'll have the press following behind. I'm used to that but what if it tears us apart. What if… What if the press finds out that he is Captain America? That Captain America, pride of America, protector of America, is gay and married to Iron Man." Tony trailed off.

"Married," Pepper trailed off with a soft smile on her face. Tony blinked several times. Slight shock showed on his face.

"Did I say married?" He smiled slightly, pleased with thought. Pepper placed a hand on Tony's knee. She bit her lip as she tried to hide her smile.

"You did. Listen Tony, if you're so head over heels in love with Steve that you talk about marriage without freaking out then... He liked you before he knew it was becoming acceptable in this century or that you liked him. Have you talked about it with him?" Tony shook his head no. "Go talk to him then! This is just as much his decision as it is yours. Steve's a big boy. He can handle the media. Now get out and go talk to him." Pepper pulled Tony up and shuffled him towards the door. "I don't want you to talk to Rhodey or me until you come back with him hand in hand for dinner." With that she slammed the door behind him. Tony chuckled at her tactics. She sure knew how to get someone going. Tony stared around him. Pepper and Rhodey's house was in Malibu, like him, but they constantly flew to New York, like him, and stayed in a penthouse over there. The walk home was only a couple of miles. Steve had this thing where he liked Tony and him to walk places that were close. Walking here wasn't bad so walking back wouldn't be bad, right? Besides, the beach that stretched in between their houses was a private beach, owned by him. Kicking his shoes off by Pepper's back door he made his way down the beach.

He wished Steve were with him. Steve would always talk about the past or something new he saw. Everything was fine until the thunder came. He picked up his walking pace but the clouds beat him. Large black rain clouds rolled in. The sea churned violently as the wind picked up. Tony cursed.

"Just my luck." Jogging over to a tiny cave in the rock side he ducked under. He cursed again. When he had walked into Pepper's house she had confiscated everything so nothing would bother him. He had attempted to keep his Ironman wristlets but she took those too. Damn. The rain came suddenly, attacking the shore. He would be there a while.

Steve ran into the Malibu house as the rain poured down. Leaning over the groceries so they didn't get wet he barged in. Jarvis shut the door for him. Steve mumbled his thanks, still not used to the AI's help.

"Jarvis? Is Tony home?" Steve filled a large pan with water and placed it to boil. Spaghetti and home made sauce tonight.

"No, he went to Peppers." He sliced the tomatoes and seeded them.

"When was that?" Throwing the seeds away he placed the tomatoes slices on a pan.

"Two hours and ten minutes." Steve paused. Two hours and ten minutes. Did he plan on eating dinner there? Or were they perhaps coming here?

"Jarvis call Tony please." The phone rang and rang. A particularly loud thunderclap caught Steve's attention. "Also, how did Tony get there?"

"He walked." Steve smiled. He had been trying to get Tony to walk places more often with him. He didn't know Tony was doing that on his own though.

"Hello?" Peppers voice answered the phone.

"Hey Pepper! Did Jarvis call your house? Sorry, he was supposed to call his cellphone."

"Is Tony not home yet?" She spoke fast, worried. Steve stopped cooking.

"No, he isn't." He trailed off. It was raining. Tony had left his phone at Peppers.

"Shoot Tony. I took his phone and Ironman things before we talked. He didn't take them with him. Oh! His shoes are at the back door."

"I'm going to go look for him. Stay inside Pepper." Steve commanded. He ran out the back door before he could hear Pepper's reply. Steve never cursed but he did as he ran across the beach looking for any sign of Tony. Ducking in every cave in the rock side he saw his hope of finding him got less and less. He couldn't see far in front of him and for all he knew Tony could be in the sea. Still he continued to call Tony's name. Looking at the sea brought back flashbacks of when he crashed into the sea. He never told anyone. Not even Tony. He remembered. He remembered crashing the plane into the ice. He remembered trying to get communications with the others. He remembered his vision blurring and the searing cold. The darkness.

Stumbling away from the ocean he went into the nearest cave he saw. Once inside he tried to calm his breathing down. His vision was becoming blurry and mixed with the flashbacks. He couldn't find Tony like this. Falling backwards he hit his head on something hard. Not quite a rock though. Whatever he knocked over made a Tony sounding 'oof'.

"Tony," Steve moaned, angry at himself for not finding him yet but wallowing in the past.

"Steve?" Tony's voice replied surprised. Steve knew it was just his imagination. He hadn't found Tony yet. Two hands lifted Steve's head up and placed into a lap. "Steve, hey Steve are you okay? You don't look too good. You're soaking wet. Damn." Tony ran his hands through Steve's hair. Steve mumbled Peggy. Tony stopped his hand. He knew Steve loved him but it felt like a knife through his gut that Steve said her name and not his. "No Cap, not Peggy." Steve's eyes opened.

"Tony!" Steve scrambled off the cave floor and tackled Tony into a hug. Tony laughed happily, gladly hugging back.

"Steve you're wet." He mumbled into the other mans shoulder. Steve tried to let go but Tony held him there. "I don't mind."

"But you'll get sick! I won't but you mi-," Tony cut him off with a kiss.

"I'd rather wait the storm out cuddled with you than only get to stare at you." Point taken Steve moved them to the end of the small cave where they curled together and waited for the rain to stop.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry this is really late and short and awful I promise the next one will be twice as long and stuff will actually happen. Yes. I didn't say this before I don't think but I don't own any of the Avengers. Obviously.**

"Why are we doing this?" Tony fumbled with his phone. I tapped his hand with a mumbled, "put it away." Tony rolled his eyes but did as he was told. Bruce had called saying that Pepper had important news for Tony, but refused to talk to him until he completed what she asked him to do. Upon Tony begrudgingly telling me that Pepper said he couldn't talk to her or Rhodey until we went over for dinner, I called Pepper and made plans.

That was how Tony and I found ourselves standing outside of the house of James and Pepper Rhodes. Or Pepper and Rhodey as I know them. I knocked on the door before taking a slight step back. Pepper's laugh could be heard as she made her way to the door. Upon opening it she smiled brightly. She glanced at us, gave Tony a pointed look, and promptly shut the door in our faces.

"Tony?" I questioned. He blushed slightly before taking my hand.

"She said I had to show up hand in hand with you at her doorstep or something like that." I gave his hand a squeeze before knocking, again. This time Pepper welcomed us inside with a hug each.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you both!" Pepper led the way into the kitchen where Rhodey stood watching the boiling pasta. I shook hands with Rhodey.

"I didn't know you could cook."

* * *

I watched Steve and Rhodey laugh and talk as though they had known each other their whole lives. Thank the lord they liked each other. I don't know what'd I do if they didn't. Bestfriend not liking boyfriend would be a problem. Pepper took my arm in hers.

"Took you long enough. Actually none of the credit goes to you. Steve did all the work." Pepper whispered.

"Hey, I told him what you said."

"With a lot of prompting."

"So we can just ignore that little detail."

"Why didn't you bring him over earlier? You've had all meals with him and me."

"I was slightly worried Rhodey wouldn't like him." Pepper slapped his arm. She glared at him.

"He is your best friend. Rhodey will like whomever you like. Just as I do."

"Thanks Pep." I looked over at Steve to find him looking at me already. We both smiled as Rhodey declared the pasta done and that we should all take a seat at the table. Pepper sat across from me, Steve next to me, and Rhodey across from Steve.

We left after hours of laughing, pasta, wine, and a cheesecake that Pepper had made specially for that occasion. Walking back in the dark with the occasional streetlight was nice. We were walking hand in hand along the deserted sidewalk rather than the beach. Steve swung our hands back and forth happily.

"And you were scared Rhodey wouldn't like me." Steve mumbled. I stopped walking.

"How do you know that?" He tugged me along.

"Super hearing." I rolled my eyes, amazed that I forgot about that. Letting go of his hand I wrapped my arm around his waist. "I had fun, we should do that more often." I hummed in agreement. Thunder clapped in the distance, causing me to lean towards Steve.

"No, no rain not today!" I grumbled. Steve laughed at my panic. "Whoa!" Steve swept me up in his arms bridal style. I laughed when he started to jog home.

"We are going to beat the rain." He stated determinedly, a smile on his face.


	5. Chapter 5

"What do you plan on telling the media?" Steve entered the office with a newspaper in hand. No doubt it was the latest picture of our last outing. We had gone to a play together. No Pepper, no Rhodey, no Bruce, but just us.

"Nice to see you too." I grumbled. Pepper had demanded I actually be in the office that day in order to sign some papers.

"I didn't know you actually used this place." Steve commented, taking a seat in front of me.

"I can think of several things we can use this place for."

"No Tony." Pepper, who had walked in with another folder, chastised. She tossed the file in front of me.

"But Pep," I whined. Steve's face was reddening. He handed the newspaper to Pepper.

"What's this? Tony if you're going to go out with Steve alone more often than you have been then you need to tell the media _something_."

"Its none of their business." I retorted. The media could keep to themselves. Steve and I are none of their businesses. Pepper huffed as she made her way out of the office. I flipped through the file Pepper had given me. Conveniently it was a file filled with the news on what the people thought I was doing with Steve.

"Lets get married." Steve said abruptly, surprising me. I dropped the folder. My mind blanked. Steve stood up and walked around to the other side of my desk. He spun my chair around to face him. Placing his hands on the armrests of my chair he knelt in front of me on one knee.

"Steve." I whispered. Was he doing this because Pepper asked me to do something? Did he feel obligated? I had planned to ask him within the next week probably next month now because of the raised media on us, but…

"Marry me. It's not because of the media or Pepper or any other reason your brilliant mind can come up with." He stuttered slightly over the next words. "I planned on asking you on Friday, but I don't know I just… I don't have the rings because I wasn't sure what to get I thought we could pick them out together," I cut Steve off with a kiss.

"Yes. Yes yes yes. I planned on asking you this week, but it seems you beat me to it." We shared a laugh. "I actually made rings."

My hands shook slightly, from excitement, as I pulled a small box out of my pocket. I opened the box to reveal two identical silver bands. Gently I pulled one out and took Steve's hand. Before putting it on I paused. Showing him the inside I spoke.

"On the inside I engraved 'I will catch you when you fall'. It seemed pretty fit after your last building dive." I saw his smile falter, just as mine did. That last catch had been a close one. "I didn't engrave anything on the inside of mine, because I thought you might want to pick what it says."

"I will keep you from the dark." Steve whispered. I shook my head, smiling. When he had learned about my nightmares he started to find ways to keep them away. When we were just friends it was teaching Steve to play a video game, he would cook me food, play board games with me, help me with the heavy lifting on my projects, but the one he had found worked best was after we were together. Just feeling him next to me worked magic.

"Somehow I knew it would be along those lines. It's perfect."


End file.
